Will signed week before heavy metal star Oliver Herbert’s death part of police probe

Oliver Herbert, second from left, a member of the band All That Remains, drowned in a pond behind his Stafford Springs home last month. (David E. Jackson)

State police investigating the drowning death of heavy metal star Oliver Herbert in Stafford Springs have examined a will signed by Herbert a week before his death at a Hartford car dealership, multiple sources close to the probe said.

The will was notarized by a person who was a friend of Herbert and his wife, and who works at the dealership, on Oct. 9, about a week before Herbert went missing from his Stafford Springs home. His body was found near a pond behind the house. The state medical examiner has said Herbert drowned, although he hasn’t determined a manner of death.

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Manchester attorney Anthony Spinella, who is representing Elizabeth Herbert, said his client initially cooperated with the state police after her husband’s death, allowing them to search the couple’s home and giving them an interview. But he said he has now informed police that any further requests should come through him.

He declined to comment on the will, which is also on file in probate court.

The State Police Eastern District Crime Squad is investigating Herbert’s death, which has been labeled suspicious. The sources said they have a copy of the 11-page will that was signed at the Valenti Hartford dealership on Leibert Road, as well as a life insurance policy mentioned in the will of which Elizabeth Herbert is the sole beneficiary.

The will was filed in probate court in late December. There is no attorney signature on it or any indication that it was reviewed by any legal representatives.

It was notarized at the dealership. One of the witnesses who signed it was Alexander Mandel, who works there. He said he was pulled off the dealership floor to sign it.

“I didn’t even know who they were. I was told, I think, he was a rock star or something,” Mandel said in a recent interview.

Mandel said he was working that day when another employee of the dealership asked him and a third employee to witness the will signing.

Mandel said that Oliver Herbert was wearing a black T-shirt and that the couple had two Corgis with them.

“He didn’t really say anything,” Mandel said of Oliver.

The will names Elizabeth Herbert as executor and sole benefactor. It says that under no circumstances should Oliver Herber’s sister, Cynthia Herbert, become executor or receive anything from his estate.

The will states that Elizabeth Herbert should get all “property as well as any current or future earnings.”

Oliver Herbert was the guitarist for All That Remains, a Springfield-based heavy metal band that recently released its ninth album and is now touring in Europe.

It is unclear how much Herbert’s estate is worth. No probate case has been opened yet.

Court records show that in June, a mortgage company filed a foreclosure notice in Superior Court in Rockville alleging that Herbert hadn’t paid a bank loan of $132,554 on a mortgage for the couple’s home on Satkowski Road in Stafford Springs.

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The records show that Oliver Herbert never contested the foreclosure and that a judge issued a default motion against him for failing to appear in September, in effect granting the bank’s foreclosure.

The Herberts purchased the home in 2013 for $135,000, according to town records. It is appraised at about $200,000, the records show.

Herbert was reported missing by his wife about 3 p.m. on Oct. 16, and his body was found by police face down at the edge of the pond where the water was only a few inches deep. Friends said he was supposed to go to a neighbor’s house the night before to watch a movie but didn’t go because he wasn’t feeling well.

Herbert, 44, was a founding member of All That Remains. His death caused a stir among some of his friends, who are now questioning how he died. Some of them have started a Facebook page called “Justice for Oli Herbert.”

Elizabeth Herbert could not be reached for comment. In a Facebook post, she wrote that she had received a toxicology report from the medical examiner.

“Oli was apparently self-treating for manic-depression that has run in his family for several generations,” she wrote. “Anti-depressants were found in his system, as well as a sleep aid.”

She also wrote that she canceled a memorial service in Worcester and issued a plea for anyone with information on where her husband may have gotten his drugs to call state police.

“As far as why the memorial service was canceled, concern for my personal safety and home due to numerous threats to both is the reason. If anybody knows where Oli was getting the psych meds, please call Troop C,” she wrote.